8 STAR vs 6 STAR

So obviously an 8 star energy efficient house will perform better than a 6 star one. But by how much? I’ve recently been involved in some consulting work for a housing design competition in the Pilbara where we attempted to illustrate exactly that.

We settled on two graphs. The first one shows the difference in energy required to cool a 6 star house compared to an 8 star one (remember, it’s in the Pilbara, the north-west of Australia, where virtually no heating is required throughout the year). It’s takes about 40% less energy to cool the 8 star home.

The second graph shows some extrapolated air-conditioning operating costs between the 8 star and the 6 star dwelling.